I originally wrote this to respond to someone here who was looking to get information about Ultima brand shocks. I know Eastern Performance is a supporter of the forum and I in no way mean this thread to be detrimental to them. I have purchased several things from them and I am satsified with their business.

These shocks though I found to be inferior, and basically useless. The person I responded to suggested I pass this along to help others and maybe save someone the hassle I'm going through.

I replaced some narrow-body lowering shocks that were on my bike when I got it ('01 Deuce) with the Ultimas about 10 weeks ago. I had the dealer do thereplacement for me, and I told him I wanted the ride height 1"lower than factory, and set in the middle of the stiffness rangewhen he installed them.

They quoted me 1.5 hours for the job. I should have known somethingwas up when at 3 hours it was still on the lift. The guy was reallyfrustrated. They did the right thing and only charged me for 1.5hours, but when I left I literally felt like I was on a buckinghorse. The rebound lifted me out of the seat.

Now I'm 200 lbs. and my rider is about 125. When she rides the rideis okay. Not stellar, but okay. When she is off the bike it's
miserable. So, I set about adjusting them. They didn't come withinstructions, so I emailed Eastern Perf. They had a tech there emailme and explain which way to turn the adjuster plates to lighten/stiffen the ride.

I adjusted them in the manner described by the tech and they areworse. I bottom out now, and have very little travel in the shockat all. If I don't creep over anything higher than a manhole coverI either get swingarm on frame or get bounced off the seat.

I found Ultima's website by searching Google last tonight actually.After some looking (their site is really poorly put together) Ifound a tech/instruction sheet area. The instructions for adjustingthe ride for the Softail series shocks are exactly opposite of whatthe Eastern Performance tech emailed me.

I think I paid $107.00 for the shocks. I should have kept the moneyand bought either some stock take-offs, or bought the Progressive422's. I have no experience with the Progressive shocks forHarleys, but I have several aquaintences who have them on Hondasand other metrics and they speak well of them.

I'm a little disheartened and aggravated by the problems thesoftail suspension has given me so far. It seems that by the namealone it would be a decent ride. My Honda Shadow had a shock set upsimilar to the Dynas and it was an excellent ride. I've ridden myfriend's Street Bob and the Dyna set up is a great ride too.

Be safe,

Paul

 

i bought a set as well.JUNK you get what you pay for.adjusted for stiff ride and a manhole cover would bottom them out oh well live and learn

 

you get what you pay

Try Ohlins. They make em' for the Softail. Other brands for the Softail is not a shock but a variation of junk. Ride a Ohlins on a Softail, than decide who is telling the truth & who has got to learn the truth. Most have no idea about suspension & how they should be.

 

iam using the altmas on my 97 fat boy custom and i have adjusted them up i was bottoming out with them lowwered so i went up about 1.5" and it rides nice or i should say it rides better. the adjusting is a little confusing but if you look at it good it will come to you . iam not unhappy with it iam 185 and my wife is 135

 

Aint that the truth.
I want to run Ohlins front forks kinda like the RSD bike. I was hoping on revalve /spring a set of Sportbike forks

Fastharley - Do you have any more info on your front ends available. For a complete front end including brakes for $1900... Thats a pretty good deal.

 

We build em' in N. Miami. They are a mix of our design, Öhlins Superbike internal fork parts and other components. Eric Gray from GMD Computrack and myself developed them. His years of experience was invaluable. I have em’ on a couple of bikes and I can tell you that it rides incomparable to a Harley. Very smooth (with my Penske shocks). I use a pair of six piston differential bore Tokico Calipers or radial mounted calipers. Thanks for the kind words..H

 

This is a follow up to my original post.

I just got back from Bike Week in Daytona. On Friday I went to Destination Daytona (Bruce Rossmeyer HD). As I was walking through the vendor area I saw the Progressive Suspension display. We were there early and very few people were at the location yet. The Progressive staff were there and had an empty lift, so I spoke with them about my experience with the Ultima shocks and the new 422's for the Softail.

They explained the differences in the two shocks and told me that they had seen varying success with the type of aftermarket shock I had purchased. They suggested that the only real way to get any type of usable benefit from them was to tighten them all the way to the stiffest setting. Exactly what I heard from people about the Ultimas.

I decided to bite the bullet and buy a set of the 422's and have them installed there. The total install price was $553.00. I figure that was a decent deal. I see the shocks for $375 to $395 on Ebay and the installation at HD would have been two hours.

Interestingly they had my bike up, the shocks installed andadjusted and back off the lift in less than 30 minutes. Now, they did tell me that the hardest part on most bikes was removing the old shocks, which they had no problems with at all on mine due to the short amount of time they had been on the bike. Still, two hours at HD seems a little long now.

The tech set them at 1/2 inch below stock and one turn of pre-load. He said to ride it and if I wanted it stiffer to try another half-turn.

I noticed an immediate improvement in ride quality. I no longer bottom out on manhole covers, road seams, etc. Also, that bucking-bronco, see-saw action is completely gone. My rider came up the last two days of Bike Week and she noticed it too without me telling her I bought different shocks.

So, you do get what you pay for, at least in this instance. I couldn't be happier with these shocks.

Be safe...

 

I been riding all my life and all I can say is you do get what you pay for! These shocks are complete garbage. If you want a good ride and a safe one I might add do not put these on your softail! I repeat DO NOT put these on your softail! I put a set on to replace the factory shocks that were worn because I have 70,000 miles on my scoot,.......yeah I ride a lot. I adjusted them every way you can, hard, soft, in between, raised and lowered ride height, ........everything and no matter what they rode like a see saw,.............with them set hard the back wheel hopped so back at high speed it actually wasn't always making contact with the road. Imagine hitting the rear brake at 70mph the split second the back tire isn't making contact with the road,..........but suddenly it does and you foot is on the brake,..........cause the wheel to lock up,..............seriously,............almost got killed and I have been down hard before so I know first hand what its like. The only thing these shocks are good for is a shop decoration,..........and after my experience with them I don't even want them in my shop,..............total junk!!!!!!!!!! I have run progressives before on other scoots I have had and will be going back to them as they have always been a quality product!

Hope this helps save some one else some misery and possibly a life!